The Camp House

In this new series we sit down with our newly elected officials to hear their story and their calling to public service. Our series kicks off with District 4's Councilman Darrin Ledford.

Councilman Ledford shares his hope to work with everyone on the council to tackle the challenges throughout our city, citing public safety and infrastructure as chief concerns. What may be most impressive about Councilman Ledford is his willingness, even eagerness, to listen and collaborate with constituents throughout the city to make this a thriving community for everyone.

Last week Hamilton County Department of Education School Board passed a budget to send on to the Hamilton County Commission, but they did so along with a significant request. In this interview with the School Board's Finance Chairwoman Tiffanie Robinson we break down that request as well as discuss a couple other initiatives that will hopefully help move public education forward in Hamilton County.

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April is unofficially Chattanooga's Arts & Culture month! In this episode Glass House Collective's Whitni McDonald joins us to preview the Highlight Festival in East Chattanooga. The Festival is a three day event centered around Jen Lewin's The Pool, an interactive art piece that lights up the night, and Gospel on Glass. The event will be Friday through Sunday, April 21-23, in East Chattanooga.

Kristen Pavlik McCallie is the interim Director of the Children's Advocacy Center of Hamilton County, a non-profit organization housed in the new Family Justice Center that serves and protects some of our community's most vulnerable - children who have suffered abuse.

April is Child Abuse Awareness and in this episode we discuss the work of the "CAC" and the progressive model by which they serve victims of child abuse and assist in investigating cases of injustice in our community.

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Part two of our discussion on Chattanooga's music economy with Mary Howard Ade, Candace Davis, and Stratton Tingle. In this episode we focus on the work of SoundCorps, a non-profit organization focused on equipping and educating artists and others involved in the music industry to make Chattanooga a great place to create, play, and love music.

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From the legacy of the Big Nine to the creation of one of the earliest music festivals, Chattanooga has always had a rich music heritage. But recently there has been increasing focus to expand on that heritage for the 21st century. Today's conversation involves three people involved in just such an endeavor: Chattanooga Visitors Bureau's Mary Howard Ade & Candace Davis and SoundCorp's Stratton Tingle.

The first half of our conversation revolves around the impetus to focus on building our music economy and the efforts of the CVB to highlight Chattanooga as a city of music, both for locals and tourists.

Jazzanooga is dedicated to promoting jazz in Chattanooga through education and performance. In this episode we talk with Shane Morrow, the director and co-founder of Jazzanooga, to talk about Chattanooga's music legacy and preview their April festival.

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The electric guitar isn't just any ordinary musical instrument. It was the catalyst for an entire shift in music and culture. Since Leo Fender's invention hit the stage in the 1950s music has never been the same. Johnny Smith is the President & CEO of the new Songbirds Guitar Museum, the most exclusive collection of rare guitars in the world. The museum's mission is to tell the story of the guitar by taking guests through a chronological exploration of how the instrument evolved and developed over time and the impact it has had on our culture ever since.

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Over that past few years Chattanooga has been recognized worldwide as the city with the fastest internet. Indeed, we have reinvented ourselves as the Gig City. But we all know that not everyone is able to take advantage of this new reality. Tech Goes Home Chattanooga is one organization seeking to address this digital divide in our community. Kelly McCarthy is the program director and in today’s episode she shares the way this digital literacy initiative is transforming the lives, and opportunities, of people in Chattanooga and throughout Hamilton County.

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Robert Winslow's dive into documentary filmmaking began with the polarization he saw sweeping the country a few years ago. In 2014 he returned to his native southern roots to explore the stories in southern communities and he began here in Chattanooga with "The Chattanooga Story" as part of his Southern Dialogues series. The success and interest in that film has spurred the creation of a new series, Dialogues Chattanooga, looking at the big questions facing our city. Robert is interested in how we are answering these questions, both as individuals and as a community. In this episode we discuss these big questions facing Chattanooga and the films he has created to shed light on the conversations and initiatives in our city that are seeking to engage these challenges.

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